Spain v Argentina
Final: Sunday July 19
New York New Jersey Stadium, US
Kick-off time: 15:00 (New York) | 21:00 (Madrid) | 16:00 (Buenos Aires)
The 104th match at the FIFA World Cup 2026 pits European champions Spain against defending world and South American champions Argentina led by Lionel Messi.
Spain reached the final after outclassing favourites France in the semi-finals.
Luis de la Fuente’s side controlled the match from start to finish, suffocating the high-powered France attack through long spells of possession and precise finishing.
That semi-final match against Les Bleus was the high point of Spain’s campaign so far.
La Roja began their World Cup adventure by topping Group H, although it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
Surprise package Cabo Verde held them to a scoreless draw in their opening match before De la Fuente’s men made up for their slow start by putting four past Saudi Arabia and then rounding off their group stage with a 1-0 victory over a feisty Uruguay.
Spain cruised through the Round of 32 with a comfortable 3-0 win over Austria.
But in the following two rounds they needed late winning goals from Mikel Merino to overcome tough European opponents.
The first of Merino’s strikes, in the Round of 16, came against Portugal (1–0).
They followed that up with a second last-gasp victory against Belgium (2–1) in a match in which they conceded what has, so far, been their only goal against of the tournament.
Spain’s form has been steadily improving and against France they demonstrated why they were considered one of the favourites before the tournament began.
Sunday, July 19, 2026 will mark Spain’s first time back in the World Cup final since they lifted the trophy in 2010, when they contested the showpiece for the first time in South Africa.
Argentina have taken a hard, albeit thrilling, road to their second World Cup final in succession and seventh overall.
The defending champions opened their campaign with three successive group stage victories, led by the extraordinary Lionel Messi, who now has eight goals in this tournament and 21 across his long World Cup career.
The Albiceleste defeated Algeria 3-0 thanks to a Messi hat-trick, Austria 2-0 thanks to two goals from the magician, and then Jordan 3-1 (with another Messi effort) to round off a perfect group stage.
In the knockout rounds, their road got much more difficult.
Lionel Scaloni’s men needed extra time to overcome a defiant Cabo Verde side in a 3-2 thriller.
In the Round of 16, the score was the same and the match even more dramatic: Egypt held a 2-0 lead entering the 79th minute but Argentina flipped the script, producing a historic comeback to win 3-2.
In the last eight, Argentina went blow for blow with Switzerland and need extra time to eventually defeat opponents who, at 1-1, had gone down to ten men. Julian Alvarez eventually broke their resistance with a magnificent goal and Lautaro Martinez added a third for good measure.
The drama did not stop in the semi-final against England, who took the lead early in the second half thanks to Anthony Gordon and looked set to run down the clock.
However, the Albiceleste once again rallied thanks to a long-range strike from Enzo Fernandez and a back-post header from substitute Martinez.
As a result, Argentina now return to the final four years on from Qatar 2022 triumph against France, and once again European opposition stand between them and the World Cup trophy.
Previous World Cup meetings
Much has happened since the sole previous World Cup clash between Spain and Argentina, which took place in 1966 at Villa Park.
It was the opening group fixture for the sides and the Albiceleste ran out 2–1 winners in a match where all the goals were scored in the second half.
The key player for Argentina was centre-forward Luis Artime, who scored both of their goals, either side of midfielder Pirri’s strike for Spain.
